Memorie.al/publikon for the first time four rare photos from the funeral ceremony of the former Chairman of the State Planning Commission, Nako Spiru, which took place on November 21, 1947, where according to the official version, he had performed suicide, in conditions of spiritual shock! Nako Spiru, one of the leading figures of the top communist leadership from the period of the War, from 1944 to ’47 who committed “suicide”, was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and in the official hierarchy of those years, he was the number 3 of the regimes and came after Enver Hoxha and Koci Xoxa.
Also, from 1944 when Spiru was elected as a member of the General Staff of the National Liberation Army commanded by Major General Spiro Moisiu, he was also a member of the Presidency of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council, and in 1946, he was elected also as President of the Anti-Fascist Youth Union of Albania, as well as secretary of the Secretariat of the Democratic Front of Albania, headed by Enver Hoxha.
From the end of the War until November 21, 1947, Nako Spiru also held a number of other duties and functions, such as: Deputy and Secretary of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, Minister of National Economy, Minister of Industry, Chairman of the Commission of State Plan and chairman of the Economic Council. In 1946, as Minister of National Economy, he signed the Convention on Economic Cooperation with Yugoslavia, for which he later showed remorse and there were contradictions with Enver Hoxha, who accused him of being “anti-Yugoslav”.
For his position, on November 18, 1947, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party headed by Enver Hoxha, organized a meeting “to watch the position of Comrade Nako Spiru”, where he was severely accused by Enver’s followers led by Koci Xoxen and in those situations, he requested a meeting with the Soviet ambassador in Tirana, Chuvakin, who did not receive him at the meeting and given the situation he was in, he “locked himself in his office and in conditions of severe mental shock, committed suicide , shooting himself with his pistol ”!?
All of the above are according to the official version, because even today, that thing, the truth of the murder of Nako Spiru, has remained shrouded in mystery, as he arrived alive at the Military Hospital of Tirana and according to evidence of his wife, Liri Belishova, he was not allowed to enter the room where he was hospitalized…?!
Another piece of evidence that casts great doubt on the murder of Nako Spiru, is that of an Italian doctor who was serving at the time in the Military Hospital of Tirana, who a few months later was repatriated to his country in Italy and at the time of leaving in the port of Durrës, he told his Albanian colleague who was following him, that: “Nako Spiro asked me to save his life…”!
Two days later, the official funeral ceremony of his funeral took place, which took place initially in the hall of the “Academy of Arts” in Tirana, where homage was paid and attended by the entire Political Bureau and the senior leadership of the Albanian Communist Party. as well as citizens of the capital, which can be seen in one of these photos published for the first time by Memorie.al, which clearly shows the large participation of the citizens of Tirana, who pay homage in front of the ark-mortuary of Nako Spiro, which is guarded by Republic Guard officers.
The second photo shows some of the top exponents of the Albanian Communist Party, the Ministry of People’s Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, such as: Ramiz Alia (who was Nako’s subordinate, as Vice President of the Anti-Fascist Youth Union of Albania,) Teki Kolaneci, Rrahman Përllaku, and Behar Shtylla, who stand in the position of honor guard at the coffin of Nako.
In the next photo, you can see some of the senior military of the Ministry of People’s Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who accompany the cannon bed with the ark-mortar Nako Spiros covered with the national flag and pulled by horses, while passing the procession in Boulevard “Dëshmorët e Kombit”. In this photo, some of the leaders of these departments at that time are clearly distinguished, such as Colonel Skënder Malindi, Director of Military Training, and Colonel Sali Ormëni, General Director of the People’s Police.
While in another photo, you can clearly see the members of the Politburo and the Council of Ministers, who walk in the square in front of the Prime Minister, accompanying the funeral procession, such as: Hysni Kapo, Manol Konomi, Pandi Kristo, Koçi Xoxe, Enver Hoxha, Medar Shtylla, Omer Nishani, Myslym Peza, Tuk Jakova, Kristo Themelko, Haxhi Lleshi, Gaqo Tashko, Mehmet Shehu, Spiro Moisiu, Koço Tashko, Josip Djerdja (Yugoslav ambassador), Dimitri Chuvakin (Soviet ambassador), etc.
Although Nako Spiru was buried with all honors, shortly afterwards Enver Hoxha accused him of being “anti-Yugoslav”, declaring him “an enemy of the people and the Party”, which continued until 1949. when, after the break-up of official relations with Marshal Josip Broz Tito’s Yugoslavia, Enver rehabilitated Spiro, presenting him as a “victim of theist intrigues.” But in the years that followed, Enver “raised and lowered” the figure of Nako Spiro several times, even burying and exhuming his body several times, until finally in his book ‘The Titoists’ in 1982, he declared it finally as a “traitor”! /Memorie.al
